One vs Two Hands on the Backhand

It should be clear from the above list that these two strokes are very different. Each has its tactical strengths and weaknesses. Each presents challenges to learn and to teach. The one-handed topspin backhand is powerful but complex and finicky - even Federer misses it more than he should, being sort of a Tennis God. The two-handed backhand is simple but it is also hard to hit it hard. The choice between them, then, is very personal and related more to what you are generally trying to accomplish when confronted with a backhand groundstroke. If you want virtual assurance that your shot will end up not only safely within the bounds of your opponent's court but very close to the point you were aiming at, use two hands. If you have a pathological need to blow your opponents off of their feet, use one. If you get very good at hitting the two-hander, you can generate decent pace and depth, but most of the time the result is shorter and weaker than you intended. If you really groove-in the one-handed topspin, you can maintain pretty good consistency with it, but at any time it can find its way into the center of the net or the backstop. You also never know exactly where it is going to end up, and occasionally your attempted passing shot decides on its own to feed your opponent a tasty fuzz sandwich. (For some this would be reason enough to chose the one-hander!)

The reason these strokes have such different capabilities is that they are members of different stroking classes. The one-handed topspin is a "long stroke", with an exaggerated backswing, sweeping long lag phase and fancy flourish on the follow-through. The two-hander is a true "short stroke" like the volley or forehand return-of-serve. You cannot hit the two-hander with a large backswing and lag phase (see the two-handed topspin chapter for the reason why). You cannot hit the two-hander as a long stroke nor the one-hander as a short stroke. It gets down to the basic mechanics of the springs in which the essential control and spin forces are stored. The springs are the forearm muscles, and in the two-hander, there are twice as many of them connected to the racket. This means it takes twice the acceleration during the lag phase to keep the forces bottled up. That means a very short, violent stroke that does not lend itself to maximal racket head speed generation for pace, but with that much control, force stored the stroke yields more pure dominance over the ball than any other stroke in tennis. Stored force is the reason why the two-handed backhand is almost magically consistent and can be placed with such pinpoint accuracy. The short backswing and lag are not all bad either. They shorten the preparation and execution time to the point that you can use the stroke for the volley or return-of-serve even against big servers. If, however, you are a baseliner who always seems to find yourself trapped behind your backhand corner and need a way to break out, the one-handed topspin backhand can turn defense into offense with one strike.

The Bottom Line

Either of these fine strokes can very competently defend your non-dominant side from attack and generate offensive opportunities. The best combination is to use the two-handed backhand for return-of-serve, baseline defense, passing shots, and mid-court put-aways and the one-handed slice for approach shots and volleys. Both use the continental grip, and the only overlap area would be the mid-court. Both the one and two-hander are formidable weapons, so whichever backhand you choose, you can't lose.